July 3rd, 2014

Wow, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve written here. I notice that I never quite finished posting my 7 Days photos from the last run this past December. Probably because I was in denial about the fact that it was the last 7 Days ever, *sniff*.

But I digress.

Anyway…yeah, we’re in Japan! In case you don’t follow me on FB/Instagram/Twitter and are just now hearing this news, the Navy surprised Troy with orders to Yokosuka in February. We were originally supposed to be in San Diego till September 2015, so this was a big change of plans, and–I’ll be honest–not an entirely welcome change. Not only do I love San Diego, and have lots of friends and family in SoCal, but I was looking forward to being in the same place for three whole years. And Japan isn’t a place I’ve ever had any desire to live.

That said, Annalie was immediately stoked about Japan. She’s an anime/manga fan, and already knew a bit about Japan from watching and reading several different series. Troy was excited about the job, which promised to be interesting and challenging and great in terms of his Navy career. And every single person I know who’s ever lived in Japan has LOVED it. So this change of plans to move to Japan might have been a surprise, but not a bad one. That’s life in the Navy–you learn to roll with it or you go crazy. So we roll with it, and hope for the best, and usually things work out just fine.

I’ve had many people, both online and IRL, ask me if I will start blogging again while we’re in Japan. The answer is: I hope so. I was thinking about my blog the other day, and about how grateful I am for the record of our lives over the past six years, and how I really want to keep that record going. What follows is partly cobbled together from emails I’ve written in the past few weeks, so if any of this sounds familiar to you, you’re not crazy; you probably just read one of my emails already.

On June 8th, we flew from Omaha to Seattle, where we hung out for a few days. The military flight to a base near Tokyo leaves from there, and for boring scheduling reasons we had to be here a bit early. But we took advantage of our proximity to Oregon and spent one of those days in Portland, meeting up with Erin and Rocco and Indira and baby Atticus!

Atticus was born in late May, and this was our only chance to see him before we left for Japan, so we took it. (We also got a bonus visit with Erin’s sister Wyleigh, who had to leave to go to the airport after lunch, but it was nice to see her even briefly.) Then we hung out at the Portland Children’s Museum for a couple hours before grabbing dinner at Burgerville and heading back to our hotel.

The rest of our time in Seattle was divided between swimming in the hotel pool, meeting up with a couple of internet friends I’d never met before (Hi, Donna! Hi, Lexi!), and just hanging out in the hotel and relaxing. I wish we’d had more time to do actual sightseeing. I guess that’ll keep for another trip.

There was also a semi-panicked, last-minute trip to the Navy base in Bremerton to get Annalie a military-dependent ID card, since she had just turned ten. No one had ever said anything to us about Annalie needing an ID card until Troy called the day before our flight to double-check that we had the correct ungodly check-in time. Then the person on the other end of the phone told him they wouldn’t let her on the plane without one. So we called several bases around Seattle to see who did ID cards, and most of them would only accept appointments several days in advance, even though it was kind of an emergency. Luckily, Pass/ID in Bremerton accepted walk-ins. Unluckily, it was a good hour’s drive from our hotel. But in the end we made the trip and got the ID card and it was fine. I told Troy, though, that I would bet cash money that no one at the airport would even think to ask about seeing Annalie’s ID. (They didn’t. Not a single person has asked to see her ID yet.)

We had to catch a 4am shuttle from the hotel to the airport in order to check in on time. Because this was a military flight, everyone who had confirmed seats had to be checked in very early, and then they would open the flight up to standby passengers. If you’re military or a military dependent, they let you fly standby on military flights like that one very cheaply. The catch is, you might have to wait several days to actually get on a flight, but considering it only costs about $20, it’s usually worth it.

After a looooong day and a ten-hour flight, we were on the ground in Japan. We landed at Yokota Air Base, which is near Tokyo, and after we picked up our luggage we piled into the van sent by Troy’s command and headed to Yokosuka, our home for the next two years.

My first couple of hours in Japan are kind of a blur, honestly. We landed at 11am Japan Standard Time, which felt like 7pm Pacific Daylight Time to us, and our day had started at 3am PDT. By the time we got to the Navy Lodge (basically just a hotel on base–most Navy bases have one) at 3pm JST, it felt 11pm to us, and I’d been awake for more than 20 hours except for a few minutes’ nap on the plane. I was toast–we all were. We took our luggage and all the Welcome-to-Japan groceries that Troy’s sponsor and his wife had thoughtfully left at the front desk for us up to our room, ate a late lunch/early dinner at the Chili’s next door to the Lodge, went back to our room, and crashed. The girls were out at 4pm, and we were all asleep by 6pm.

Naturally, Elliora woke up at 3am, which all things considered, wasn’t too bad. And the sun rises around 4am at this time of year in Japan, since there’s no Daylight Savings here.

And now we’ve been in Japan for three weeks. Time flies when you’re busy! We spent the first week in the Navy Lodge, which wasn’t bad–especially since we had a kitchenette with a full-size fridge–but four people in a room that small starts to feel very crowded. Not that we were spending that much time in the room. We spent our days walking all over the base or taking the free base shuttle, visiting different offices and getting paperwork filed and just exploring. Luckily this is a relatively small base; it’s possible to walk from one end to the other in about a half-hour. And you’d be surprised how much paperwork there is when you’re moving overseas for the military (or maybe you wouldn’t). Troy’s boss had a small barbecue at his house for us one day, so we could meet some people and get out of the hotel for an afternoon, which was really nice. Another day, he took us out in town and showed us around a little bit and took us out to eat at Denny’s, which was DELICIOUS.

We got a house on base that first week, and we were able to move in almost immediately. It’s an end townhouse with a small backyard, next door to a big playground and only a few minutes’ walk from the NEX and Commissary (department store and grocery store and several restaurants). We’re REALLY lucky we got a house so fast. People often are stuck in the Navy Lodge for a month or two waiting for housing to open up. We’re also REALLY lucky that we were able to get loaner furniture from the base (they have beds, dressers, dentist’s-waiting-room couches, lamps, and tables and chairs that you can check out), and a crash kit (two bins full of towels, sheets, and kitchen items like plates, cups, a coffeemaker, a toaster, etc.). And a few days after that, our first shipment of household goods arrived. This was just a small shipment, the “express” shipment. We’d included kitchen items, towels, bedsheets, and clothes in that shipment, so we’ve able to muddle along pretty well while we wait for our big household goods shipment.

We moved into the house on Friday the 20th. On Monday the 23rd, Troy and I started the Area Orientation Brief. Every day for a week, we sat in a classroom from about 8am-3pm and listened to a parade of speakers telling us about life on this base and what resources are available to us here. We learned about everything from the enviromental services (trash and recycling) to how to license bicycles to what office can help if you want to pursue a college degree while you’re here, and much, much more. We also talked a lot about what it means to live overseas as a U.S. military member or dependent, and learned a lot about Japanese culture–money, food, customs, language, transportation–from a Japanese national who works for the family support center here. One day, we took a field trip to the nearby town of Kamakura, where we visited an important historical shrine, ate at a ramen restaurant, and used the trains to get ourselves home.

Where were Annalie and Elliora while Troy and I were at class every day, you’re wondering? The teenage daughters of one of Troy’s co-workers, M and N, took turns babysitting the girls for us. We met them at that barbecue when we first arrived. They’re lovely and got along really well with our girls, and when their mom mentioned that they might be open to watching the girls for us, we grabbed at that chance. It was a godsend because that way we didn’t have to mess with the headache and paperwork of enrolling them in the base child development center, and Elliora and Annalie got to stay together. And they had fun with M and N, who brought games and crafts over every day, and one day they all walked over to the exchange for pizza and ice cream. It could have been a very stressful part of the week for all of us (since they’re homeschooled, neither of them have ever been in a situation where they had to attend school or daycare), but thanks to M and N it was downright pleasant.

The last day of the orientation course was driving safety instruction and a written driving test. (Before the test, over the lunch break, the intstructor put up a slideshow of Japanese traffic signs for us to review, like the one above.) We took the practical driving test earlier this week and are now licensed to drive in Japan. Because we’re here with the military and fall under SOFA, we didn’t have to actually live up to Japanese driving standards, which is good for us. In Japan, driving is very much a privilege, not a right, and requires much more extensive education and testing than in most of the U.S. All we had to do was take the one-day safety course, the 50-question test, and the driving test–and that was challenging enough, since in Japan, they drive on the left and the driver sits on the right side of the car. The very first time I ever drove a right-side drive car on the left side of the road? My practical driving test two days ago. Apparently I did well enough, though, because I passed. And now we’re looking for a car to buy! (Our cars and minivan are in storage because it’s pretty expensive to bring cars over and get them licensed and safety-tested for use here. Easier to buy a used car from someone who’s getting ready to go back to the States, then sell it before we leave.)

Since the orientation class ended, we’ve been in a bit of a lull. Well, the girls and I have, anyway. Troy started work on Monday, and as usual, it’s been a bit like drinking from a firehose with all the information he has to absorb in a hurry. But he likes his job and the people he works with, and he’s excited to be on a ship again, and it will get better.

We’re scheduled to receive shipment of our household goods next Friday, and then things will get a bit crazy again for a while as we unpack and settle in. We’re going to be missing Brenda something fierce then! This is going to be the first time in six years–in four moves–that Brenda won’t be helping us unpack and working her organizing and decorating magic on our house. Waaaaah! Somehow we’ll muddle through–they key word being muddle.

So that’s what’s happening with us right now. I’m sure I’ve left out plenty of information, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments! I’d be happy to answer, especially since it would give me more blog posts to write. (And I’m really gonna try to write more.)

December 26th, 2013

I’ve been meaning to use this ornament in a 7 Days photo for seven years now, so I guess it’s time I got around to it. One of my cousins painted this ornament for me in 1981, when I was 6 years old. As a bonus, there are four ornaments in this photo that were made by 7 Dayers.

Becca (smiles2have) made Golden Snitch ornaments for me and Jen when we went to LeakyCon, the Harry Potter fan convention, together in Oregon this past summer. The TARDIS ornament was painted for me by Bonnie. The silver wreath at the bottom was purchased from Doow via her Etsy shop. And the sparkly lemon that is hiding behind my hand was made by sams&nickels years ago for an ornament swap.

That photo of my nonplussed, gap-toothed 6-year-old self always makes me laugh. I have no idea why I remember this, but I was wearing roller skates when this photo was taken. I believe my mom took this photo because I’d just lost one of my front teeth. (Cue “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”!)

Here’s my alternate Day 6 photo:

Me and Bonnie, on the way home from the movies. We went to see Catching Fire, Bonnie for the first time and me for the, uh, third time. It’s a really good movie, what can I say.

December 25th, 2013

When Troy and I lived in San Diego as newlyweds, we decided that instead of being bummed about not having a white Christmas like the ones we grew up with in the Midwestern U.S., we would embrace what’s great about San Diego in December. So we started a tradition of going to the beach on Christmas Day. We’ve continued this tradition for 17 years, whenever we’ve been someplace warm enough to go to the beach in winter. Sometimes we hit the tidepools, sometimes we have a cookout. But we always enjoy ourselves and never once have we wished for snow to play in instead of sand.

Happy, merry, wonder and joy to you all! I hope wherever you were today, you were with loved ones and eating good food and laughing. My gift to you is 28 seconds of the sound of the Pacific Ocean, two little girls squealing a bit, and a lovely sunset.